Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 6:00 pm Post subject: To my fellow friends and family
Hello fellow friends,
Over a decade, all of the fans and staff have helped LakersGround become what it is today. Together, we’ve seen the Lakers post-Showtime era, Magic’s retirement, the success and breakdown of the Bryant/O’Neal/Jackson dynasty, and the recent transition years. It has been a great ride, and an amazing feat that our community has become what it is today.
Personally in that time, I’ve finished pharmacy school at UCSD, and am now involved in the San Diego community. In the past five years, I developed a love for taking care of patients, and working with families, physicians and nurses to improve people’s health. It is an ongoing challenge to prevent the progression of disease, and reduce the medication errors that happen all too often in our modern healthcare. Since graduation, I have also returned to UCSD to teach as a Clinical Instructor, and established the “Paul John Scholarship” dedicated to my grandfather, who was a physician in Taiwan, to recognize pharmacy student leaders with financial need. I aim to show future pharmacists that pharmacy isn’t just a career built on books and facts, counting and dispensing. It’s about applying the knowledge we learn to improve public health.
As I have become more involved in my career and personal life, my hours dedicated to LG has steadily decreased as I’m sure you’ve all observed. The last few years, I really counted on the LG staff here to hold the nuts and bolts together. Over the past few months, I reflected on my position and considered that it may be best for LG, the staff, and the community to have new leadership take over, and help revitalize AND re-structure the direction of the site.
I met with FaxData (my close friend since high school, and my LG partner-in-crime from the beginning) a few weeks ago. He’s a doctor now in Los Angeles, and we spoke at length about the State of LG, how far it has come, and where it needs to go. It was clear to us that LG needed someone with the same passion we’ve all shared to keep our website fresh and our community popping. All of this led to one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make in my life, and why I wanted to address you all.
In midst of my conversations with Fax, I shared with him that I was going to step down as the Owner/Webmaster of LG, and pass the leadership rank over to someone who has shown he is willing to dedicate his time and passion for our community. Phil had approached me in the past regarding acquiring the business, and I've always humbly declined. Still, he willingly provided the support for a new server when we needed to grow. Nonetheless, I didn’t feel right taking any money for LG. After some creative conversations, Phil and I came to an agreement for him to make a donation to the scholarship I started at UCSD (since he has family who currently attends UCSD). With his philanthropy and dedication towards LG and for the education of pharmacy students, I knew I could pass the torch to him. In my ongoing and lengthy conversations with Phil, he has reassured me that he wants to work with everyone on the staff to finally get LG moving.
So long story short, I know each of you will have many thoughts and opinions about this, but ultimately, it is the best decision for me, and more importantly for LakersGround.
I thank all of you for the memories and friendships. I will still be around the community, and am looking forward to watching how Phil and the staff will take LG to the next level.
I humbly appreciate everyone’s support for LG over the years and my decision today. I love you all.
Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 29999 Location: Likely nowhere near you
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 6:25 pm Post subject:
Jason, I was not here when you posted so I did not get a chance to read your contributions, but the site LG says it all.
Thank you so much for this and the wonderful board you have created. While I am sure you will stick around and post when possible, LG will truly miss you. I know Phil will do a great job here, but none of this was possible without you.
Thanks so much. Congratulations on the career and post-LG life. Please do stick around and just enjoy Lakers' basketball with us for many years to come.
SALUD! _________________ Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'
Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 17429 Location: Mackadocious, Ca.
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 7:18 pm Post subject:
Good luck in all your future endeavors, bro! My pops is a pharmacist, so I know how hectic it can get, but it's a well-respected occupation and you will reap much appreciation and joy from people who are in need! _________________
Quote:
Smooth, but I move like an army / Bulletproof down in case brothas try to bomb me / Puttin' brothas to rest like Elliot Ness / Cuz I don't like stress
Thank you, Jason, for this site and for your dedication to making it the coolest hangout around.
I know for a certainty that my passion for the Lakers and all things basketball has been stoked to greater heights because of my daily visits to LG.
Wishing you much success and happiness in the next step in your life,
LNM _________________ Detective Winters: "I've never really studied the female genitalia."
--------------------------------------------
Ron Artest: "I'm a big fan of the Nobel Peace Prize"
Joined: 26 May 2003 Posts: 1561 Location: Reno, NV
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:00 pm Post subject:
I humbly thank you for LG. It has been my eye into all things Lakers since I came across it many years ago, and I greatly appreciate it!
And as to your "retirement", good luck in the real world. As someone who works in healthcare, your passion for your career is most noble. Truly. Good luck!
Joined: 02 Aug 2002 Posts: 18411 Location: Sherman Oaks, CA
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:04 pm Post subject:
I know everyone else is saying it, but I do have to thank you for starting this site. It has been a blessing to those of us Laker addicts, and it's the best site on the planet.
I'm sad to see you go, but your legacy that is this site will forever reflect all that you put into it. G-d bless and take care.
Joined: 18 Jul 2001 Posts: 10015 Location: Los Angeles/ Alhambra, CA
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:19 pm Post subject:
Jason --
My sincere thanks to you and FaxD for all of the hard work, attention, dedication, creativity, enthusiasm and love that you have put into LG over the years.
This was the first online community I joined, and it has been great to have both a place to celebrate and a place to create -- whether in the form of jokes, song parodies, or flat-out, borderline-obsessive game analysis.
Best of luck in your non-virtual endeavors and God's blessings to you and yours.
Some may succeed you, but you will never be replaced.
May the wind be at your back, the soil beneath your feet be soft, and the sun always shine on the roads ahead.
God speed your way, and may you always find the way back home.
First off I'd like to say thank you for this place. I rarely post, but I browse daily.
Secondly I really felt the need to comment on the way you've handed over the business. A donation from Phil to a scholarship you started. That's giving back! We need more people in this world like you 2.
while i greatly appreciate and admire your contributions to lakersground, i hail your humanitarian service even more. may your efforts to put a human face on medicine meet with unqualified success.
Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 2287 Location: Staples Center
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:32 pm Post subject:
Your a great human being we will miss ya man, you have seriously done a great job and i really appreciate it. _________________ "THIS IS OUR TURN, THIS IS OUR CHANCE, THIS IS OUR SEASON...THIS IS OUR CHAMPIONSHIP!" - Kobe Bean Bryant
Joined: 12 Apr 2001 Posts: 9315 Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:48 pm Post subject:
Jason, there've been times I've loved this sight and times I've hated it, but I've always had the deepest and utmost respect for you. I hope the fact that you are stepping down as the webmaster doesn't mean you'll stop visiting, or posting, or caring about the Lakers. In any event, I wish you nothing but the very best in all you do, and I thank you for having the vision to create this site and the dedication to guide it to where it is today. Ya done good, kid! _________________ I would rather have questions I cannot answer than answers I cannot question - Richard Feynman
I'm another daily reader and browser who seldom posts. I would not have done so unless there was substance and character permeating the whole thing. It's kind of like the Laker organization. There is a tradition of excellence with virtue that goes way beyond merely winning.
After years of daily reading of LG, I concluded that the substance and character, the boundaries and the focus—all that makes LG worthwhile—it all comes from someone or some core community. I wasn't sure who it all was flowing from, but I knew that you were a part of it.
You deserve many expressions of thanks, but some serious accolades of respectful honor as well. I appreciate what you have accomplished and what you are focusing on now. Good for you, and many others. Go for it.
Jason, good luck on all your future endeavors and thank you for creating a site that so many of us love, and being able to let go so that it can continue to grow. _________________ "I define success by championships, by winning..." Kobe Bryant
"I've seen it all. Sasha dunked on somebody," Kobe Bryant said. "I'm ready to retire now."
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